


I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire

by Entwinedlove



Series: Of Sparks and Spellfire [20]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Psychological Horror, Trapped in a Nightmare (sorta)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 11:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16474787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Hermione wakes to find a handsome young man fixing her tea. He's a very good listener.





	I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire

**Author's Note:**

> [ ](https://i.imgur.com/7oAgTU3.jpg)

When Hermione opened her eyes she didn't know where she was. She was in a bed in a sparse bedroom. There was an old song playing softly. She sat up to see a young man her age, handsome with brown hair and a sharp jaw, just setting down a tea tray on a coffee table between two cosy armchairs.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Oh, good, you're awake." He started fixing the tea and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine..." she said, though it came across more like a question. Why wouldn't she be fine? She tried to search her memory about what had happened or why she was here, wherever this was but came up blank.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said. He was soft-spoken and his tone was gentle. "Sugar?"

"Two, please." She was still confused about where she was and who he was but she was sure he'd tell her eventually. He seemed familiar to her; she just couldn't place why. He set the teacup on the table in front of the chair closest to her and she climbed out of the bed to sit in the chair and drink her tea.

She spotted the source of the music when she did, there was an antique radio on a short table against the wall next to the only window. The song had a nice, calming swing beat but she didn't recognise it really. Only identified it as something her grandparents would have listened to.

"Before you fell asleep, you were saying something about a hunting trip, I think? Did you want to pick back up with that?"

Hermione sighed and took a sip of the tea he'd fixed her. She didn't know where to start. This Horcrux hunt that Dumbledore had set them on seemed hopeless. She opened her mouth, only once feeling the urge to not talk about it, that no one should know, but one glance at this man's handsome face and fetching brown eyes had her wanting to confide in him. Surely nothing horrible would come of telling just one person, right?

So she did. She told him all about how she was worried about Harry and his connection to You-Know-Who through his scar, how she had repeatedly told him to close his mind but she was only repeating what little she'd read about Occlumency since she didn't have any practical experience.

The man nodded and listened appreciatively. "Occlumency is extraordinarily difficult, as I understand it. I'm not sure who you would have asked to help train you for it."

She then went on to talk about Dumbledore and how he'd asked Professor Snape to train Harry. She told him about Harry's lessons with Dumbledore before he died, about what Harry had told her about retrieving the locket and how it was a fake.

The man glanced away from her, his brow furrowed as he set down his teacup. Hermione noticed that the song must have been particularly long as it was still playing.

"Would you like a refill?" the man asked, gesturing to the empty cup in her hands. She set it down and let him pour her more as she listened to the song. It eventually came to an end only for a moment before the introductory notes started again. She looked back at the radio thinking that was odd. Why would a radio only play one song?

When the man handed her the refilled cup of tea she thanked him.

"Tell me, how did you find the real locket?"

And again, she told him without sparing any detail. She told him about breaking into the Ministry. About trying to destroy the locket and how it tried to destroy them until finally, the Sword of Gryffindor came to one of them. She told him how that had worked where they had previously failed.

As she was coming to the end of her tale, something seemed to click in her mind. They'd been caught by snatchers! She'd been tortured by Bellatrix! She reached up to feel the knife wound along her jaw but found only unblemished skin. "Harry and Ron, I've got to get to them!" She said, dropping her teacup. It shattered upon impact with the floor but the man didn't seem disturbed by it. "We've got—Bellatrix, in her vault; she's got one!" The pieces of the puzzle her hindbrain had been working on while Bellatrix had interrogated and tortured her finally clicked into place. "We've got to go. Are you coming?" She asked. She had stood and headed for the door but the man's voice recalled her attention.

"Go?" he asked. "There is nowhere to go, my dear. Little. Mudblood." His eyes flashed red and a cruel smile curled his lips. That's when she realized. Something was horribly wrong.

She rushed to the door and flung it open to find that behind the door was a solid brick wall. She went to the window but it was nailed shut. She looked around for something to use to break it but there wasn't much in the room.

Riddle was gone.

The song's intro started playing again.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://ivyentwined.tumblr.com). Happy Halloween!


End file.
